Why you already know the deep field of Houston District D candidates

As one of the fastest-growing cities in the country, Houston adds roughly 3,000 net residents a month. Because some folks leave, that means MORE than 3,000 new people call the Bayou City their home every 30 days.

These newcomers may not know much about our politics, but after a short while, they can vote. (We already know who’s on the rolls for next month’s City Council election because the deadline to register was Oct. 7.) If you’re registered, early voting begins one week from today on Oct. 21. Election Day is Nov. 5.

Name recognition counts a lot, particularly in crowded races. The Houston City Council District D race has 12 candidates and many are well known for reasons aside from politics.

Here’s how we know some of the candidates — or some information to help you make the connections:

• Kirk White may be a newcomer to electoral politics, but he’s a veteran commentator on political matters as a rapper. Originally from Amarillo, he performs under the moniker “Prez D” and has produced several albums with political themes, including “Politics” in 2007 and “Economics” in 2010.

• Georgia Provost is a prolific fundraiser who lends her name and efforts to a myriad of local causes, but the average TV-watching Houstonian probably knows her as car dealer Alan Helfman’s loyal customer:

• Christina Sanders has been working on grass-roots causes throughout her 20s, including helping with student voting rights for people attending Prairie View A&M University. The campus now has a polling place that will be open on Nov. 5.

Christina Sanders (in blue blouse), a Texas Southern University grad twice over, helped organize a march of 1,000 PVAMU students and supporters in 2008 as a member of Black Youth Vote! Texas to protest the lack of an early voting place on campus.

• For more than a decade, Ivis Johnson has hosted www.cityofhoustonemployees.com to direct City of Houston workers to job openings, pension information and salary comparisons.

• Lana Edwards didn’t marry a politician, but her ex-husband — former state Rep. Al Edwards, known as “Mr. Juneteenth” — turned out to become a veteran one in Austin. Besides having three children with the legislator, she was a longtime English teacher, served as assistant principal at HISD’s High School for the Performing and Visual Arts and was the principal of Windsor Village Elementary. Along the way, she also learned the nuts and bolts of campaigning in many of the same neighborhoods that encompass District D.

• Anthony Robinson made history as the state’s first exoneree to be declared “actually innocent” and was pardoned by former Gov. George Bush. Robinson was mentored by state Sen. Rodney Ellis, who spoke at his graduation from the Thurgood Marshall School of Law at Texas Southern University and “hooded” the wrongly convicted man at the ceremony. Since then, Robinson and Ellis have worked together to provide better compensation and support to help the wrongly convicted rebuild their lives. Robinson, who was incarcerated for 10 years for a rape he didn’t commit, was featured in “A Human Tragedy” — the Chronicle’s exoneree project this year that tells the stories of 24 people who spent years in Texas prisons for crimes for which they weren’t responsible.

• Assata Richards is the vice chair of the Houston Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. She also was a teen mother who received supportive housing from Project Row Houses, which helped her regain entry to the University of Houston and eventually earned a doctorate in sociology at Penn State on full fellowship while raising her son. She has returned to Project Row Houses as a program manager, mentor and example of how someone can overcome and excel with community support.

Al Edwards chats with his children, Al Edwards II, far left, Trelle Brown, and Jason K. Edwards, far right, as early voting numbers indicate that he was winning over Borris Miles in an upset for Texas state District 146 representative in March 2008. Miles has since regained the position. (Karen Warren| Chronicle )

• Dwight Boykins has spent time working behind the scenes in the community as a lobbyist. Recently, his top clients have included the Houston Community College System. But he’s also served as a grand juror and has plans to employ ex-felons in a “Second Chance” program. He discussed both extensively on Vivian King’s “Truth and Justice” local call-in show in 2012 and earlier this year.

• Demetria Smith is a financial planner, but she’s also a playwright who wrote and directed “Mama Please Don’t Cry.”

• Keith Caldwell has spent much of his career working in management, including overseeing operations in 2006 at this Montrose Walgreens.

Walgreens Manager Keith Caldwell checks the progress of employees Ebony Beckman and Valerie Garza at the Montrose Walgreens on March 22,2006. (Dave Rossman | For the Chronicle)

• Travis McGee runs his own barbershop while attending to the needs of his community as president of the Sunnyside Gardens-Bayou Estates Civic Club.

Travis McGee, owner of McGee’s Hall of Fame Barber Shop, received an apology from at least three city council members last year after telling them about his treatment by Houston police. Following a shooting in his neighborhood, he approached officers to get a description of the suspect, but was instead treated as the suspect. (Melissa Phillip | Houston Chronicle)

Travis McGee, the president of the Sunnyside Gardens-Bayou Estates Civic Club, in 2010 as he and neighborhood residents are trying to get the City of Houston to improve the drainage in their neighborhood that flows into Sims Bayou and address illegal dumping. (Johnny Hanson | Houston Chronicle)